UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DE VIÇOSA

DEPARTAMENTO DE LETRAS E ARTES

DISCIPLINA – LET 251

LINGUÍSTICA APLICADA: ENSINO DE LÍNGUA INGLESA

MOTIVATION IN THE PROCESS OF LEARNING AND TEACHING A SECOND

LANGUAGE: RAMIFICATIONS AND OUR PERSPECTIVE

Viçosa - MG

Julho - 2022

Dálit Rodrigues Gomes – 100263

Luana Rodrigues Gomes – 100288

INTRODUCTION

Motivation has been, since a long time ago, a very important factor in the
language acquisition process, not only according to teachers' own experiences in the
classroom but also to research in the areas of education (GARDNER; LAMBERT,
1959; QUAN, 2014; GILAKJANI; LAI-MEI; SABOURI, 2012; HAN; YIN, 2016.) For
this reason, students or professionals in the field have increased their interest in
researching and understanding the implications of this factor, in order to consider
them when planning their classes, making practices, and improving their didactics
and teaching methods used there. This way, teachers could positively affect their
students, making them feel motivated, and consequently get better results in learning
a foreign language, which is both a wish. Besides that, teacher motivation is also
viewed as something very important, because after all, is him or her that will lead the
activities in class, choose the materials, bring extra and relevant topics to class and
guide students. As a person, the teachers’ actions are also influenced by their
motivation, which causes consequences in their students' learning process. Han and
Yin (2016) express the importance of considering also the teacher when talking
about motivation, which has been helping them to learn and understand their
feelings as teachers while teaching, and as a consequence, they could change what
is necessary to make their professional life the best possible, and also their students’
ones.
The purpose of this work is to analyze motivation in class considering both,
students and teachers realities. Related to the first one, we are going to observe the
similarities between the learning process of us as students when feeling motivated
and unmotivated depending on the situation. Related to the teachers’ perspectives,
we are going to observe the variables in our motivation according to our experiences
while concomitantly analyzing articles and research that bring arguments that are
going to be discussed throughout the paper. Related to both, the content of this
paper should contribute to learning more about motivation and its implications in the
education process, from different points of view, and maybe that way it can guide
teachers and students to promote motivation not only in class but also outside, to
students while learning a second language, and teachers while teaching. To achieve
its objective, articles by different authors have been used, and their studies were
compared with the results of our shared experiences. The context brought to the
analysis was based on the genuine experience of 2 participants as teachers and
students, who are the authors of this paper: Dálit Rodrigues Gomes and Luana
Rodrigues Gomes, both English teachers, and English and French students.

This paper has, in addition to this introduction, a brief summary of the

analyzed topic, comparisons between data from the articles used, a synthesis of the
analyzes performed (the first one related to the student’s reality and the other related
to the teacher’s reality), final considerations and references.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Second language acquisition depends on many other aspects than common

sense imagines; It is not only related to the teaching-learning process. As observed
by Gardner and Lambert (1959, p. 266): “Researchers have mentioned that
motivation and interest probably play important roles in second-language
acquisition”, but they are not easy to measure; then it doesn’t receive the needed
attention.

According to the authors, children have a specific motivation to learn their first
language, which is the “desire to be like valued members of the family, and later, of
the whole linguistic community”. Communicating with their parents and other
relatives is something natural to the children, and obviously, they want to improve it
to make it better. The adult's case is a bit different because they already have their
native language, therefore, their general motivations to learn a new one could be
related to job opportunities they aim, leisure objectives, such as traveling, or moving
to another country, for example.

Each author describes motivation differently, as its importance. Gilakjani,

Lai-mei, and Sabouri (2012) describe motivation as a “motive force, something that
prompts, incites or stimulates action”. They also bring other authors’ descriptions, as
“a state of cognitive and emotional arousal, a state which leads to a conscious
decision to act and gives rise to a period of sustained intellectual and/or physical
effort” (WILLIAMS; BURDEN, 1997), “a combination of effort plus desire to achieve a
goal plus favourable attitudes towards the goal to be accomplished” (GARDNER,
1985), and “motivation is one of the key factors driving language learning success”
(DORNYEI, 2001 cited GILAKJANI; LAI-MEI; SABOURI, 2012.).

Gilakjani, Lai-mei, and Sabouri (2012) say that “It is important to think about
motivation as the essence of language teaching because of the stark realities of
learning English for most of our learners”, and add that students don’t have
opportunities enough to communicate with other English speakers, there’s a lack of
input and models that promote English for them as the society may doesn’t accept
the idea of becoming proficient in the language, so their motivation comes from other
things. They consider that there are three levels of motivation: Finding learner’s
passion, changing learner’s reality, and connection to learning activities. As the
name suggests, the first connects learning with passion, even if not about the
language itself, but at least anything from his or her life. The second is related to
their own motivation on learning the second language, because there’s a lack of
input and attention in class, and students need to be more connected to the
language than what is offered in a class by the teacher. Last but not less important,
is the third one. It is related to the strategies used in class to engage learners,
promote opportunities for them and contribute to their learning process by giving
feedback on things that affects their motivation and engagement.

SOUDERS says that “motivation is crucial because it allows us to change

behavior, develop competencies, be creative, set goals, grow interests, make plans,
develop talents, and boost engagement”. Indeed, motivation is being more observed
by researchers nowadays, and we can clearly visualize that a motivated student
shows better results and also helps others to improve their skills, because of the
collaborative learning, creation of activities that promote participation, and active
participation as students, the interest shown in class and recognition by the teacher,
and many other factors.

ANALYSIS OF MOTIVATION AS STUDENTS

For Dálit, as a student, the topics were represented by the wish to study
English as a language itself, which she believes is a beautiful language that
connects all over the world; She likes the English and British culture; she enjoys
many products that are manufactured in these places, as songs, books, series and
movies, and beauty products. She also has friends there and wants to communicate
better with them. Besides that, almost all her interests are connected to English
somehow, like her expectation to travel to Europe, North America, and other
countries where you can easily access and spend some time there because of the
English language, that is used there, such as Japan. Spending some time there with
friends and family, learning and adapting to their culture is something that calls her
attention, mainly because the life quality in these places seems to be so much better
than in Brazil.
Furthermore, Dálit also has a belief that by learning languages she would
have the chance to travel and work abroad, which she believes will also create a lot
of future opportunities in her field of work. Her contact with English in subjects from
her course and the courses she teaches helps her with the daily practice of listening
and speaking. Besides that, she studies constantly at home, practicing the way she
saw she learns best, according to the years she spent studying languages, which
includes grammar, listening, vocabulary expansion, and reading. In class, she is not
used to be engaged, and she believes there’s a lack of feedback from the
professors, even in front of her high dedication, which commonly leads to
demotivation and discouragement.
For Luana, the passion to learn English came naturally and she felt connected
and interested in the culture. She had the facility to memorize and learn new words
as soon as she had contact with a new word. She could expand her vocabulary
faster than she expected and she never felt unmotivated to learn although people
around her didn't find many benefits in learning English. She kept her high motivation
for many years and she learned by herself, using games, songs, and texts. Luana
had good reasons to learn, for example, her favorite songs, favorite series, movies,
favorite sweets, and some festivals like Halloween and even the culture were related
to English. She could easily find a reason to keep learning and she always had the
necessary motivation to never give up. At school, she enjoyed being the best in her
English classes. She noted every new word or rule that was given by the teacher in
her classes and the more the teacher congratulated her for doing something right,
the more she felt confident and sure about what she would do in the future. Of
course, it would be something related to English.
 Things changed a little bit when Luana started her English literature classes at
the university. She felt all her knowledge wasn’t as real as she thought. There was a
lack of motivation because she didn’t receive from the professor the help she needed
at that moment. But she uses it now as a motivation to improve and never give up
because she plans to travel abroad and keep conversation with English speakers
without having any problems and her aim is to be fluent to be a good teacher. Also,
she created a connection with some professors and her colleagues during the time
she spent at the university. Her parents always give her the support she needs to
study. So, it provides a motivation to keep studying even when things go wrong.

Some research about the common demotivating factors for students in the
class shows that it revolves around 6 aspects, as presented by ÇANKAYA (2018):
Class Characteristics, class Environment, experiences of Failure, lack of interest,
class Materials, and the teacher. For them, lessons led by a teacher that translates
things all the time, lessons focused on grammar, being obligated to study English,
rarely exposure to opportunities to communicate in English, and classes that prepare
students for specific exams were the most influenced factors. However, the least
demotivating ones consist of the same explanations in almost every class,
explanations that are hard to understand, teachers’ pronunciation, and teachers that
get angry and scream or ridicule their mistakes. HAN (2019), in some research about
the topic, says that “23% of the participants pointed out teachers as the primary
source of their demotivation”. To HAN (2019), the main factors to consider when
discussing demotivation as students are:
a) The classmates’ humiliating attitudes toward each other and their competition,
which cause anxiety and stress, teacher;
b) Teachers that talk about things not related to the lessons, their inefficiency in
giving lectures and using equipments, and their attitude towards students’
errors or behavior, that also cause anxiety and fear of being negatively
evaluated;
c) Physical conditions of learning, such as crowded and noisy classrooms, that
cause loss of concentration and lack of equipments;
d) Personal factors such as lack of self-confidence, shyness, and anxiety;
e) Education system aspects, such as boring courses, teacher-centered lessons,
memorization-based teaching methods and unpractical syllabus.
Besides that, the author also presents strategies to overcome demotivation
according to each category:
a) Personal endeavors, such as practicing and studying by themselves,
searching for help on the internet, doing research, using social media,
practicing self-talking, and ignoring what others think or say;
b) Asking for assistance from friends or teachers;
c) Changing attitudes and perspectives, by tinking positively, focusing on
advantages;
d) Being goal-oriented, for instrumental or integrative motivation.

We can consider also, based on facts that interfere in students’ motivation, that the
teacher can also pay attention to the students’ behavior inside the class to avoid
humiliation, be calm and patient with them, correct them in a way not to cause
embarrassment, stick to the syllabus, try to keep the classroom in silence when
necessary, but promote communication’s classes and also relate them to the
students' realities. It’s also important to train the usage of the types of equipment
before class, prepare and simulate activities previously, try to create dynamic
classes, avoid boring approaches etc.

ANALYSIS OF MOTIVATION AS TEACHERS

Most research on motivation directs us to students, but does the teacher’s

motivation also influence the learning process? The answer is yes. Han and Yin
(2016) brought great contributions to the area, and according to them,
The significance of teacher motivation research is also self-evident as it is a
crucial factor closely related to a number of variables in education such as
student motivation, educational reform, teaching practice and teachers’
psychological fulfilment and well-being.

In their research, they describe the most important factors that influence an
increase in teacher’s motivation, such as teachers' autonomy to choose their
teaching methods and materials; professional factors, like input they receive,
professional relations they make, their development as teachers, their institutional
support; intrinsic values such as self-evaluation in language, intellectual simulation
during every-day activities and process of teaching; and the least, extrinsic values,
such as family and community influence to learn a new language, to different aims,
convenience, considering job opportunities, proximity to home, for example; other
benefits of teaching, as financial help, being connected to a field you may are
interested in, and other personal ones. Connected to these motivational factors
presented by the articles, if it is observed for a moment, we are going to find out
examples of external variables related to students, such as good classes where the
students collaborate a lot, pay attention, are communicative and then the teacher
enjoys the time there with a high productivity level, environmental aspects, as an
appropriate, safe and comfortable place (in terms of temperature, for example) with
technological resources that help the teachers to create interesting classes,
opportunities to improve your skills and aim new levels of knowledge, etc.

On the one hand, the teacher has a lot of reasons to feel motivated in class;
on another hand, the teacher also faces several difficulties in class, which may make
them feel demotivated. Some of them were also cited by Han and Yin (2016), such
as negative working environment aspects, lack or inhibition of teacher's autonomy,
extrinsic values as a disappointing salary, less or no opportunity to do research,
negative situation in class, according to the student's behaviors. Indeed, working in a
place you don’t feel comfortable, safe, free to keep studying, and investigating and
developing theories about language and education makes any teacher a bit
demotivated; as students who disrespect teachers in class, don’t dedicate
themselves to the subject, stay quiet and don’t communicate. Both make teaching
seems like an everyday challenge. “The difficulties which may frustrate teacher
motivation fell into nine categories” (BESS, 1997 cited HAN; YIN, 2016):
conceptualization and operationalization of education aims in society,
determination of the pedagogical outcomes, ambiguous and conflicting role
demands, variety found in teaching routine, mastery of teaching technology,
understanding of student learning styles, change measurement, new
knowledge acquisition and self-awareness maintenance throughout life
cycle.

Dörnyei and Ushioda (2011) cited Han and Yin (2016), have made a recent
modification to these categories, removing some of them and generalizing on only
one, letting only five categories of demotivating factors left, such as “stress, inhibition
of teacher autonomy, insufficient self-efficacy, inadequate career structures, content
repetitiveness and limited potential for intellectual development”.
 Thoonen et al. (2011) created a theoretical model that shows the relation
between the school organizational conditions, transformational leadership,
professional learning activities, teachers’ motivation, and their teaching practices,
which present high influences on the quality of the classes, because their
engagement, for example. Three factors were considered to observe the reality in
class, in a study done in the Netherlands: expectancy, value, and affectivity. The
study results showed that the efficacy varies if there is a lack in one of these key
components that together build an effective learning process. In addition,
(JOHNSON & JOHNSON, 1999; KROL-POT, 2005 cited THOONEN, 2011 claims
that:
it is assumed that positive interdependence (cooperation) is based on
intrinsic motivation and interaction that encourage and facilitate learners’
efforts and that may result in a variety of outcomes such as high
achievement, positive relationships, and psychological wellbeing

It can be observed that these factors affect Dálit’s teaching process, also. As
a teacher, she had opportunities to teach different classes; many mixed ones and
also specific ones, where students shared, sometimes, similarities such as same
age, shyness, demotivation, motivation, great communicative skills, and dedication.
The intrinsic factors that contributed to her demotivation were mainly related to her
students, which is really common, as observed by Sugino (2010) cited Han; Yin,
(2016): “[...] investigation of demotivating factors for Japanese EFL college teachers
suggested that five out of the top seven demotivating factors were related to student
attitudes”. In the same way, they are the main reason for demotivation, students are
also the main motivational ones (KIZILTEPE, 2008 cited HAN; YIN, 2016).

Dálit says that the demotivated classes are the worst to deal with, because
the students do not show progress, or show unimpressive ones, and it also makes
her feel even more demotivated, implies a drop in the quality of the class, which
implies in student’s less motivated, causing a negative demotivation cycle.
“Demotivation was concerned with negative factors that cancelled out the existing
motivation” (DÖRNYEI; USHIODA, 2011 cited HAN; YIN, 2016). The same happens
in classes where the majority does not communicate, and classes where the
students do not create a good relationship in class with other students. The extrinsic
demotivation factors revolve around the low salary, heavy workload, and others,
which are the most reasons that teachers complain about, in a study that analyzed
their rewards and their satisfaction, made by (Kassabgy, Boraie and Schmidt (2001),
“Additionally, EFL(English as a Foreign Language) teachers reported a relatively
higher level of stress and burnout than any other professional group” (Karavas, 2010
cited HAN; YIN, 2016).
As a teacher, Luana finds it hard to keep motivated, once her abilities and
methods are put into practice, and sometimes a student who is not interested doesn’t
learn, doesn’t participate, or communicate the way she was expecting. This is
another example of how demotivation is concerned with negative factors. On one
hand, this situation frustrates her and she doubts if this is the right thing to do, in the
other hand, she loves the feeling she feels when a new student learns the content
and thanks her for helping in the process.
Luana finds it easier to teach something she loves instead of something she
doesn’t like. The experience of teaching is a great opportunity and she recognizes its
importance, she thinks teaching something she likes gives a better quality of learning
to the students. She is always searching for tips and explanations about the things
she doesn't understand and trying to improve her skills and methods to be a good
teacher. She uses strategies like handwriting new words or explanations and making
mind maps with the contents to learn and memorize what she wants. She uses
songs to learn and increase her vocabulary, and she likes to use games and
dynamic activities in class, so students feel more motivated to participate and learn
at the same time. She understands that in a class with more than 10 students, it's
harder to keep everyone motivated and interested, but she still gets unmotivated
when she notices one or two students giving up on classes or looking at her with
bored faces while she tries to do her best. According to a study done in 2001 about
what is important to a teacher, having a job in which the teachers can perform to the
best of their abilities and helping their students to learn English leads the list,
followed by having a job that is enjoyable and simulating fairly treated in their
organization (KASSABGY; BORAIE; SCHMIDT, 2001). This way, motivation varies,
depending on the situation the teacher faces in his or her classes.

Considering motivation and demotivation that important to achieve teachers and

students' objectives, how can we deal with these factors within the classroom?
Considering the research of HAN (2019), t claims that
FINAL CONSIDERATIONS

Based on researchers, there are many variables related to motivation, but

according to our own experience, as students and teachers, it’s possible to see more
situations and different perspectives of what things motivate or demotivate students
and teachers in a classroom. From the teacher’s perspective, Luana hasn’t had
many bad experiences teaching, but Dálit has gone through many situations where
she can relate more to the variables related to demotivation and motivation. Although
Dálit has had more experiences, it is possible to observe some familiarities between
the factors that provided demotivation between them, as teachers. Both described
similar situations with students who didn’t show interest in participating or
communicating, which creates a situation where the cycle of demotivation grows. It’s
hard to get out of this situation because finding motivation after disappointment
requires much effort and most of the time we don’t want to spend any time doing
that.
We could also observe as students, that all the three levels of motivation at
the beginning of the text, were present in the report of both, Dálit and Luana, but
from different perspectives. For example, they both made a connection between
learning and passion. Luana found it using music, games, and the culture, Dálit
created a connection with the language through the language itself, the desire to
learn and improve her knowledge, and also the culture. About the second, which is
their own motivation to keep learning, it’s also possible to perceive this input present
in their report. Dálit has English-speakers friends and the aim of communicating
better and traveling abroad was used as an input to improve and keep focused on it.
This kind of input was also present in Luana’s report but was less explicit. She found
encouragement in songs, games, and also in herself because every time she
learned a new word it fueled the desire to keep learning. The same happened with
the third level of motivation, they both found strategies to keep this process.
After that, we realized the factors involved in motivation or demotivation can
be found in almost every situation, but still, they can appear in a different ways. It’s
necessary to analyze to understand what makes us unmotivated or not, so we can
find a way to overcome the difficulties that may appear in the process of learning.
 This paper also helped us to understand the difference that exists between
students and teachers, and made us reflect on what ways are better to provide
motivation to our students and find our own.

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